Hyperlapse: Time-lapse video made simple

On Tuesday, Instagram – the popular photo-sharing service now owned by Facebook – released a new, standalone app called Hyperlapse. I don’t often use the word “revolutionary” with free smartphone apps, but I’m going to do so with this one.

Hyperlapse lets you easily take time-lapse video. What would normally require a tripod and a sophisticated camera setup now can be done with the simple tap of an onscreen button.

Time-lapse video essentially compresses time. In the case of Hyperlapse, six seconds of captured video is rendered as a single second as you record. This can be changed once you’ve finished capturing a scene, from 12x down to “normal” speed, or 1x.

The reason you don’t have to use a tripod is because Hyperlapse uses the gyroscope in iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads to provide excellent motion stabilization. In fact, you can set the time compression down to 1x and just use Hyperlapse to capture impressively smooth, non-timelapsed video.

To see how good the motion stabilization is, check out this Hyperlapse video shot from my desk in the newsroom at the Mighty Houston Chronicle. I spun slowly in several circles in this video which, if you’re prone to it, may cause motion sickness.

Here’s another video, this one shot as I waited in line in the Starbucks in the tunnel below the JP Morgan Chase Tower. It should be less nausea-inducing.

Hyperlapse’s interface is ridiculously simple: Tap a single white button to start a video. You can tap on the screen to set a focus point, too. Otherwise, that’s it.

You can record for up to 45 minutes on an iPhone 5/5S/5C, or up to 10 minutes on an iPhone 4/4S.

After you’ve finished a video, you can adjust the time compression and then share if you like via Instagram and/or Facebook. It’s also saved to your camera roll, so you can post it to other video services as well.